Dr. Hunter, in his “Memoirs of Captivity amongst the Indians,” says that the Delawares believe that in the beginning the Red men had short tails, but they blasphemed the Great Spirit, and in punishment for their sin their tails were cut off and transformed into women, to be their perpetual worry. The same story is told by Mr. Atherne Jones, as heard by him among the Kikapoos.
The ancient Mexicans had a myth of Xolotl, making out of a man’s bone the primeval mother in the heavenly Paradise; and he called the woman he had made Cihuacouhatl, which means “The woman with the serpent,” or Quilatzli, which means “The woman of our flesh.” She was the mother of twins, and is represented in a Mexican hieroglyph as speaking with the serpent, whilst behind her stand the twins, whose different characters are represented by different colors, one of whom is represented slaying the other.77 Xolotl, who made her out of a bone, was cast out of heaven and became the first man. That the Mexicans had other traditions, now lost, touching this matter is probable, for they had a form of baptism for children in which they prayed that those baptized might be washed from “the original sin committed before the founding of the world.” And this had to do, in all probability, with a legend akin to that of the Iroquois, who told of the primeval mother falling, and then of the earth being built up to receive her, when precipitated out of heaven.
The Caribs of South America relate that Luoguo, the first man and god, created the earth and the sea, and made the earth as fair as the beautiful garden in the heaven where dwell the gods. Luoguo dwelt among the men he had made for some while. He drew the men out of his navel and out of his thigh which he cut open. One of the first men was Racumon, who was transformed into a great serpent with a human head, and he lived twined round a great Cabatas tree and ate of its fruit, and gave to those who passed by. Then the Caribs lived to a great age, and never waxed old or died. Afterwards they found a garden planted with manioc, and on that they fed. But they became wicked, and a flood came and swept them away.78
In the South Sea Islands we find other traditions of the Fall. In Alea, one of the Caroline Islands, the tale runs thus:—
“The sister of Eliulap the first man, who was also a god, felt herself in labor, so she descended to earth and there brought forth three children. To her astonishment she found the earth barren; therefore by her mighty word, she clothed it with herbage and peopled it with beasts and birds. And the world became very beautiful, and her sons were happy and did not feel sickness or death, but at the close of every month fell into a slumber from which they awoke renewed in strength and beauty. But Erigeres, the bad spirit, envied this happiness, so he came to the world and introduced into it pain, age, and death.”79
With the Jewish additions to the story given in Genesis, we shall conclude.
The godless Sammael had made an alliance with all the chiefs of his hosts against the Lord, because that the holy and ever blessed Lord had said to Adam and Eve, “Have dominion over the fish of the sea,” etc.; and he said, “How can I make man to sin and drive him out?” Then he went down to earth with all his host, and he sought for a companion like to himself; he chose the serpent, which was in size like a camel, and he seated himself on its back and rode up to the woman, and said to her, “Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” And he thought, “I will ask more presently.” Then she answered, “He has only forbidden me the fruit of the Tree of Knowlege which is in the midst of the garden. And He said, ‘In the day thou touchest it thou shalt die.’ ” She added two words; God did not say any thing to her about touching it, and she spoke of the fruit, whereas God said the Tree.
Then the godless one, Sammael, went up to the tree and touched it. But the tree cried out, “Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the ungodly cast me down! Touch me not, thou godless one!”
Then Sammael called to the woman, and said, “See, I have touched the tree and am not dead. Do you also touch it and try.” But when Eve drew near to the tree she saw the Angel of Death waiting sword in hand, and she said in her heart, “Perhaps I am to die, and then God will create another wife for Adam; that shall not be, he must die too.” So she gave him of the fruit. And when he took it and bit, his teeth were blunted, and thus it is that the back teeth of men are no longer sharp.80
V.
ADAM AND EVE AFTER THE FALL.
When Adam reached the earth, the Eagle said to the Whale, with whom it had hitherto lived in the closest intimacy, “Now we must part, for there is no safety for us animals since man has come amongst us. The deepest abysses of ocean must be thy refuge, and thou must protect thyself with cunning from the great foe who has entered the earth. I must soar high above the clouds, and there find a place of escape from him who is destined to be my pursuer till death.”81
According to certain cabbalistic Rabbis, Adam, when cast out of Eden, was precipitated into Gehenna, but he escaped therefrom to earth, by repeating and pronouncing properly the mystic word Laverererareri.82 In the Talmud it is related that when Adam heard the words of God, “Thou shalt eat the herb of the field” (Gen. iii. 18), he trembled in all his limbs, and exclaimed, “O Lord of all the world! I and my beast, the Ass, shall have to eat out of the same manger!” But God said to him, because he trembled, “Thou shalt eat bread in the sweat of thy brow.”83
Learned Rabbis assert that the angel Raphael had instructed Adam in all kinds of knowledge out of a book, and this book contained mighty mysteries which the highest angels could not fathom, and knew not; and before the Fall the angels used to assemble in crowds, and listen to Adam instructing them in hidden wisdom. In that book were seventy-two parts and six hundred and seventy writings, and all this was known; but from the middle of the book to the end were the one thousand five hundred hidden secrets of Wisdom, and these Adam began to reveal to the angels till he was arrested by the angel Haddarniel. This book Adam preserved and read in daily; but when he had sinned, it fled out of his hands and flew away, and he went into the river Gihon up to his neck, and the water washed the glory wherewith he had shone in Paradise from off his body. But God was merciful, and He restored to him the book by the hands of Raphael, and he left it to his son Seth, and Enoch and Abraham read in this book.84
Along with the book Adam retained the rod which God had created at the close of the Sabbath, between sun and sun; i.e. between nightfall and daybreak, so says the Rabbi Levi. Adam left it to Enoch, and Enoch gave it to Noah, and Noah gave it to Shem, and Shem to Abraham, and Abraham delivered it to Isaac, and Isaac gave it to Jacob; Jacob brought the staff with him to Egypt, and gave it to his son Joseph. Now when Joseph died, his house was plundered by the Egyptians, and all his effects were taken into Pharaoh’s house. Jethro was a mighty magician, and when he saw the staff of Adam and read the writing thereon, he went forth into Edom and planted it in his garden. And Jethro would allow none to touch it; but when he saw Moses he said, “This is he who will deliver Israel out of Egypt.” Wherefore he gave him his daughter Zipporah and the staff. But the book Midrash Vajoscha relates this rather differently, in the words of Moses himself: “After I had become great I went out, and seeing an Egyptian ill-treat a Hebrew man of my brethren, I slew him and buried him in the sand. But when Pharoah heard this he sought to slay me, and brought a sharp sword the like of which was not in the world; and therewith I was ten times smitten on my neck. But the Holy God wrought a miracle, for my neck became as hard as a marble pillar, so that the sword had no power over me. And I was forty years old when I fled out of Egypt; and I came to Jethro’s house and stood by the well and found Zipporah his daughter; and when I saw her, I was pleased with her, and asked her to marry me. Then she related to me her father’s custom, and it was this. ‘My father proves every suitor for my hand by a tree which is in his garden; and when he comes to the tree, the tree clasps him in its branches.’ Then I asked her where such a tree was, and she answered me, ‘This is the staff which God created on the eve of the Sabbath, which was handed down from Adam to Joseph; but Jethro saw the staff